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After uneven game against the Jets, Aaron Dobson says he can 'definitely be better'

Aaron Dobson

New England Patriots wide receiver Aaron Dobson tries, but can't pull in a pass from Tom Brady during the second quarter of an NFL football game against the New York Jets Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
(AP)

The dropped passes and other mistakes happened. Maybe his
three drops against the New York Jets were the result of a physical failure.
Maybe it was a mental failure, the result of thinking too much. Maybe it was
both.

It could have been a number of things, but New England Patriots wide receiver Aaron Dobson refuses to blame his struggles on so-called rookie jitters. He knows for
certain it wasn't that.

Dobson's game against the Jets started with promise. He
scored a 39-yard touchdown on his first reception, and finished with three
catches for 56 yards. His night, however, was defined by what he didn't do, and
what he didn't do was catch three passes that hit him in the hands.

His inability to reel the ball in was somewhat surprising
since his hands were so good while at Marshall University that a fictitious statistic
stating that he didn't drop a senior pass during his senior year went
unquestioned and was widely circulated (he had two drops against UFC).

So what happen to his hands Thursday night? Was it mental of
physical?

"Kind of both," Dobson said. "I think I can improve in both
areas, physically and mentally, so I have to keep that in mind."

Even though some have been quick to give up on the
second-round pick, Dobson doesn't feel that all aspects of his performance were
negative. He scored a touchdown, caught two other passes and routinely found
ways to get open throughout the night.

Those are things are all thingsthat can be built upon. So if
Dobson manages to keep getting open and catches the football as he has so many
times before throughout his football life, he believes he can put his uneven
debut behind him.

"I feel like it went well. I mean, I felt like it went OK,"
Dobson said. "I feel like I could definitely be better, improve in certain
areas. I have that mindset to be better and improve going into this game."

There was one person who didn't seem OK with the performance
of Dobson and the other wide receivers during Thursday's game. Throughout the
contest, Tom Brady had a sneering look permanently affixed to his face and at
one point blew up on the sideline after a miscommunication with either Dobson
or Julian Edelman that led to an incompletion on a third-down play.

Given his body language, it seemed that he was ready to give
up on his new cast of receivers. But given time to review the film and step
away from the battle field, the quarterback has since cooled down and believes
that everything will eventually come together as long as he and his receivers
keep working toward perfecting things.

But at the same time, he knows the clock is ticking.

"This is not tiddlywinks, this is real football, and this is
a real job, and we're held accountable every single day for what we do every
single day, so I think just trying to convey that message to everybody so that
everybody knows that," Brady said. "This is about winning football games, and
we're doing our best to do it, and that's why we work hard."

It's not easy for New England's new group of receivers.
Outside of Edelman, there are no other veterans to lead the way and show them
how things are done. But that's the reality of the situation, and they plan to
find their way through it.

"It's a little tough. It's the game," Dobson said. "We came
into this situation, and we got to improve everyday."